Last week I had the privilege of travelling to some of the Jamie’s Ministry of Food Centres. I am always so impressed with the work that all of the staff are doing in the centres to teach many people all over the country how to cook from scratch. The centres also provide great opportunities for volunteers and students who are studying nutrition. Here is an update from the Jamie’s Ministry of Food Centres:
Claudia is from Portugal and she is currently studying Public Health and Nutrition at Leeds Metropolitan University. She is thoroughly enjoying her time at Jamie’s Ministry of Food in Leeds and she says that the greatest lesson that she is learning is how to pass on the knowledge of good food and how to cook it to others. Claudia says “The work placement has been great and it has far exceeded my expectations. I never thought of teaching cooking lessons to other people until I came here and started to work with everyone at the centre”. I also caught up with Simon the Centre Manager when I was there. He said that they have been very busy lately and there has been some great public events where the staff have been able to showcase the classes that are taught in the centre. Recently they had a stand at the “Leeds Loves Food” festival. The team demonstrated to the crowd how easy it is to make delicious and nutritious lunches and how there are so many benefits to making your lunch. They demonstrated 8 recipes with around 30 people at each demonstration. The team also demonstrated on the main stage one of the very popular recipes that is taught within the centre – “Sizzling beef stir fry”. Simon is also very excited about the family fun day of cooking that is being held at the Jamie’s Ministry of Food location in Armley which is just outside of Leeds. This event is being held on the 6th of July.
The team at Jamie’s Ministry of Food in Bradford have been as busy as ever. Centre Manager Soraya The centre is in the spotlight recently as Bradford Council are looking at ways to tackle obesity and including the centre in their research. Soraya who is the Jamie’s Ministry of Food Manager recently went to an NHS led meeting where she shared information on what classes are offered at the MOF centre focusing on learning how to cook from scratch and cooking on a budget. Whilst I was visiting Bradford I met a young student by the name of Lewis from Tong High School. I was so impressed with the way that Lewis was helping the trainer during the cooking class – he looked so confident and happy working in the kitchen. I spoke to Lewis after the class and he said that he has loved his time doing work experience and that his dream is to be a Chef one day. Since being at the Centre Lewis has helped teach disabled people how to cook and he has also worked with young people from the YMCA who are having challenges at school.
Travelling up to Jamie’s Ministry of Food in the North East I had the pleasure of meeting the new trainer there Edel. Edel studied Food and Human nutrition at Newcastle University and she is passionate about teaching people about good food and how easy it can be to cook it. She is definitely in the right place as the Jamie’s Ministry of Food Centre in Newcastle offers loads of cooking classes. Speaking to Edel she says that her favorite thing to cook is Mexican food. It’s great to see and meet trainers from such varied backgrounds working at the Centres. Edel has loads of experience working in the food industry and great to see that she has found her home at the MOF centre in Newcastle.
For more information on Jamie’s Ministry of Food.
